CHAPTER XXVI.
PERRY TOWNSHIP
Pg. 199

FIRST CALLED NORTH TOWNSHIP - CHURCHES - POPULATION -
DESCRIPTION AND BOUNDARIES - VILLAGES AND HAMLETS OF PERRYSVILLE -
PALERMO AND LAMARTINE

     Perry Township was erected under the name of North by the Carroll County Commissioners, at their first session, held at the house of David J. Levy, in Carrollton, Mar. 5, 1833.  At their June session the commissioners made this entry in their journal:  "Petition of sundry citizens of the townships of Union and North were presented, praying for a new arrangement of said townships, which they duly considered and determined that they shall be named and bounded as follows:  The fraction of North with a part of Union attached, which is hereby erected into a separate township and to be known as Perry township to be bounded, etc."
     At their March meeting the county commissioners made an entry:  "Mr. McQueen presented a petition signed by sundry citizens of Perry Township praying for an alteration of the townships of Perry and Union, but in consequence of the petition not giving legal notice, the board refused to make any alterations.

EARLY MILLS AND LIQUOR STILLS.

     The county commissioner's journal shows the following concerning pioneer milling:  "October, 1844 - It is hereby ordered that the tax charged upon the mill of Joseph Crail, in Perry Township, be remitted and that the mill will be stricken from the duplicate of taxable property, said mill not being deemed taxable property under the present laws."
     There were in those early days many "stills" scattered here and there throughout this township (this was before it was illegal to run in liquor still) as there was no revenue tax on liquors until after the beginning of the Civil war.  Whisky brought good, ready money to the farmer and it was the rule all over this part of the country to dispose of the rye and corn on hand after the stock of the farm had its share.  After 1870 there was not known to exist a still-house in Carroll County.

POPULATION.

     In 1840 Perry Township had a population of 1,344; in 1880, it was 1,140; in 1890, it was placed at 950; in 1900, it was 831 in 1910, only 766.

[Page 200]

VILLAGES OF PERRYSVILLE

     This village was laid out Jan. 28, 1835, by Mahlon Stewart, for the purpose of making a town to be called Perrysville.  It is situated nine miles south of Carrollton and in 1880 had a population of two hundred.  The near-by postoffice was named Lamartine.  There were then two churches.  Land was worth as high as $60 per acre and the business of the village was carried on by the following persons:  Ed. Stewart's tannery; Dr. H. G. Tope, drugs.  Doctor Tope was a surgeon in the Civil war.  Before the postoffice was established at Perrysville, Jacob Gladden, Sr., kept a postoffice on his farm and called it "Hickory" - named for Andrew Jackson, who had many admirers in this township, politically.  About the only newspaper going through this office was the Cadiz Sentinel and Carrollton Picayune.  After the establishing of Lamartine postoffice, Hickory postoffice was abolished by common consent.

VILLAGE OF PALERMO

     This place was platted July 17, 1838, by George K. McCaskey, eight miles south of Carrollton.  In 1880 its population was fifteen souls.  S. T. Allen then conducted a general store and was postmaster.  He was also the village blacksmith and farmed as well sa ran the only tavern of the hamlet.
     The school lands of Perry Township were disposed of in 1848.
     The only Methodist church (South) ever organized within Carroll County was the one in the south part of Perry Township at "Cross Roads."  This church was dedicated by the notorious rebel, Edson B. Olds, who addressed a Vallandingham meeting in the grove north of Carrollton in 1863.
     As a missionary field Perry Township had few equals.  The Baptists had a house of worship on the farm of Martin Wortman.  The Protestant, or "New Side" Methodists, in 1884, still had a church at Palermo.  The Methodist Episcopal at Mt. Tabor; Bishop Weaver founded the United Brethren church of Perrysville.  Rev. Alexander Campbell dedicated a Disciple "Meeting House" on Joseph Allen's farm.  A Methodist Episcopal church was dedicated by Bishop Simpson.  The Lutherans had a branch in the north part of this township.

END OF PERRY TOWNSHIP.